As the final project in the Pagan Consent Culture course offered by Cherry Hill Seminary, I drafted a Consent and Anti-Harassment policy for Trillium: ADF Spring Gathering. This policy has been submitted to the Organizers of Trillium and is being discussed/reviewed. This should not be taken as any official Trillium policy, but, rather as my own thoughts of what could constitute a useful policy.

​Trillium: ADF Spring Gathering Consent & Anti-Harassment Policy· Our Trillium CommunityThe Trillium Gathering is a small, annual Druid festival and one of the longest running ADF festivals (nearly two decades old). As with any festival, the attendees change a bit from year-to-year, but there is a core of people who have been attending regularly for many years and a group of children who have grown up within the festival’s extended community. As such, the majority of any year’s participants are known to each other. In any given year the number of newcomers is small (less than 20) and many of them are brought by regular participants or are members of the ADF Board of Directors who are coming as part of their role in the church.Organization of the festival is done by committee. Membership on the committee does not change much from year-to-year though tasks and the position of Chair are rotated every couple of years. We have agreed that no one should Chair the festival more than two or three years in a row.

· Trillium in Relation to Consent CultureUnderstanding of consent culture is as varied as it is in the wider community of ADF. Some folks already had a firm grounding of understanding consent, and some will hear about it for the first time at Trillium 2018. Several attendees/presenters are taking or have previously taken this course and this will be a great asset to helping the festival community adjust and move toward accepting a festival consent culture. There has been some initial conversation on the organizers forum surrounding issues of consent and we have brought on a consultant to help guide us through the culture shift.

· Policy ImplementationThis draft will be presented to the organizing committee for discussion, editing, and agreement. We will work with it until it meets our current perceived needs and is acceptable to all. After adoption, the policy will be posted on the event website and I will publish a copy of it in ADF’s SouthEast Regional newsletter. It will be posted in the community forum for discussion/explanation before the event. At the event itself the policy will be in the program and also posted in every bathroom stall. A workshop about consent culture, led by previous graduates of this course, is scheduled as keynote presentation at the festival itself.

· Anticipated Bumps in the RoadAs one organizer described us, we are a “huggy” bunch. There has been some push back about explicit consent and penalizing violation thereof. Statement like, “I won’t agree to kicking someone out just because they hug someone,” have been made. So, a general understanding of consent culture and gentle culture shift will need to be achieved by the organizers. Early conversation and consensus-building has been very encouraging!At the festival itself I anticipate the need for much describing of explicit consent and reminders to ask before touching or acting upon someone. I think having several graduates of this course on site to engage in conversation will be a huge asset. Because this is an issue that will be in the forefront throughout ADF in the coming festival season I think that the normal challenges that come with tectonic culture shift will actually be less than at any other time.​· The policy draftTrillium Policy of ConsentTrillium Gathering is an environment in which the spiritual and bodily sovereignty of each attendee is honored. We each have the right to consent or decline to be touched or acted upon in private, social, and sacred spaces. To that end we present the following guidelines:

All ritual/workshop leaders will offer a pre-ritual/workshop briefing which will include a description of any physical touching (anointing, hugging, hand-holding, etc.), energetic touching (reiki, smudging, group intoning, collective group trance, etc.), and/or shared food/drink touching (shared loaf from which participants tear pieces, communal horn/chalice, etc.) Ritual/workshop leaders are expected to be prepared to offer inclusive alternatives to all physical, energetic, and sharing-of-consumables for participants;

Attendees will seek explicit, affirmative consent before touching any other attendee. This may be verbal (“yes!”) or non-verbal (ie. opening arms to accept a hug, or shaking head to decline). Attendees who have existing agreements about touch with each other (parents/children, family members, close friends, romantic partners, etc.) may follow their own agreements with each other.

Attendance at the Trillium: ADF Spring Gathering constitutes agreement to abide by this policy.Attendees failing to comply with Trillium’s consent policy will be spoken with and reminded of the policy. Attendees who continue to choose to not participate in the festival’s culture of consent may be asked to leave the festival venue.Trillium Anti-Harassment PolicyTrillium: ADF Spring Gathering is committed to providing a meaningful, inclusive festival experience free from harassment. Trillium celebrates and honors the vibrant diversity of beliefs, physical forms and abilities, modes of expression, loveways, ethnicity, and cultural heritage present in our community. Harassment will not be tolerated at the festival.Harassment includes, but may not be limited to:

Inadvertent triggering. You are responsible for understanding your limits. If an otherwise respectful conversation or situation is difficult or unsettling to you for personal reasons, you have every right and a responsibility to your own well-being to step away.

Ill-received jokes (unless the teller, when made aware of the unwelcomeness of the humor, continues to tell similar jokes)

ReportingIf you experience harassment, or witness an attendee being harassed, please speak with a senior festival organizer (a list of organizers is in the front of the festival program and posted at Registration). If the person engaging in harassing behaviors is one of the organizers, they will recuse themselves from any handling of the situation and will leave the festival venue. Behaviors violating the laws of Virginia will immediately be turned over to the local authorities.EnforcementIf an attendee is found to be engaging in harassing behaviors, the organizers will take the actions they deem necessary, up to and including asking an attendee to leave the festival. Attendees refusing to leave after being asked to do so by the organizers will be prosecuted for trespassing.